mattvan1 wrote: 5 home wins and a .500% record against the AFC North and 8-8 would be a huge success in my book.

Add, "Discovering McCoy to be "The Guy"" to that as well.

oh, and what the hell. Knocking off the Steelers in week 17. I wish the Browns could defend their house from the vermin.

ain't thinking playoffs though.

Swerb wrote:Go start a blog if you want to tell the world your incomprehendible ramblings.

Cerebral_DownTime wrote:I have a big arm and can throw the ball pretty damn far...... maybe even over those moutains. The Browns should sign me, i'll let you all in locker room to drink beer. Then we can all go out the parking lot to watch me do motorcycle stunts.

Govbarney wrote:I can't recall a Front Office type or coach in the history of Pro Sports who has ever said: "You know I think we are going to play like shit this year, if your smart you wont bother buying tickets"

SD:

I dunno , after Savages we're looking for singles instead of homeruns and Rac's mumblings followed by Mangini's button button whose seen the button QB carousel or refusal to answer a simple question likeOn the expectations for the team: like if the grass on the playing field is green or not .

Holmgren's enthusisam is damn near like listening to Muhamad Ali calling his shots before the fight , by comparison.

“Well I suppose I’m never satisfied until we start winning some more games. We didn’t win enough games last year. How about this stat? We went from one of the oldest teams in football to one of the youngest and we lost 331 years. We’re a young team and now having said that we’re going to have some growing pains, but I think looking back on my year I don’t question my decision to retain Eric (Mangini) and those guys. I thought long and hard about it. The fact that then I had to make the change I suppose if I made it right away you could say we’d be a year ahead but I had reasons for not doing it and that’s the way it is. Now we have to kinda get going again but I like the way our team is functioning. We have these young people that are going to be good. Tom Heckert does a great job in personnel. I mean he really is good. The really good thing I did was surround myself with really smart guys and they can really do the job.”

How disappointed he would be if the Browns don’t make strides this year:

“I would be disappointed if we didn’t make a jump Dave but we’ll see. I’m not one to predict those things as you well know. I think if we don’t get hurt and Colt can’t stay in and not get injured, which is a huge thing, and he can have a full year of growing and playing the game, I think we have a chance to be a much better football team. That’s my hope anyway.” """

The fact that then I had to make the change I suppose if I made it right away you could say we’d be a year ahead but I had reasons for not doing it and that’s the way it is. Now we have to kinda get going again

At least he's honest about setting the development curve back a year by keeping Mangini.

He didn't really say he expects to compete, either.

I think we have a chance to be a much better football team. That’s my hope anyway.

It's more "hope" than "expectation" at this point. When he admits the main goal is to keep the QB healthy and enable him to "have a full year of growing and playing the game", you know it's a rebuilding year.

It's going to take good health and a whole lot to go right for this team to be 8-8, even with a fairly weak schedule. The lack of depth on the DL and at linebacker is freaking scary. And I don't know if we have wide receivers who can get the kind of quick separation required in this offense.

"Prosecutor"]The fact that then I had to make the change I suppose if I made it right away you could say we’d be a year ahead but I had reasons for not doing it and that’s the way it is. Now we have to kinda get going again

At least he's honest about setting the development curve back a year by keeping Mangini.

He didn't really say he expects to compete, either.

SD:

Never said that he said that he said that

.........so there , neener neener neener.

]I think we have a chance to be a much better football team. That’s my hope anyway.

It's more "hope" than "expectation" at this point. When he admits the main goal is to keep the QB healthy and enable him to "have a full year of growing and playing the game", you know it's a rebuilding year.

It's going to take good health and a whole lot to go right for this team to be 8-8, even with a fairly weak schedule. The lack of depth on the DL and at linebacker is freaking scary. And I don't know if we have wide receivers who can get the kind of quick separation required in this offense.

SD:

We were 5-11 last year , our opponents strengthened themselves with offseason free agent signings including pissburgh who notoriously destains such signings , or even paying their own guys big contracts like they just gave Woodley .

Yet Holmgren seemed undeterred , so he's not buying into or selling your young QB built in excuse ,by inference ,the only way they" can make a jump " ie improve on last year is to line up and competitively compete .............now.

Sorry, I must have misinterpreted the title of the thread - "Holmgren expects to compete." My bad.

We were 5-11 last year , our opponents strengthened themselves with offseason free agent signings including pissburgh who notoriously destains such signings , or even paying their own guys big contracts like they just gave Woodley .

Pissburgh is our opponent for only 2 out of 16 games. The Ravens will still be better than us even though they had to cut some aging vets. The Bengals without Palmer should be worse. The other 10 games look easier than last year's gauntlet which included New England, New Orleans, Atlanta, and Tampa Bay.

I expect the Browns to do better than 5-11 as they've added some talent but haven't lost anybody significant unless you're a big fan of Delhomme, St. Clair, Bell, Barton, Bowens, Roth, Wright, Rogers, Trusnik, Elam, etc. OK, they lost Vickers but he doesn't fit in this offense and they lost Hodges, but otherwise the personnel should be better, especially the DL. With decent health, especially on defense, I can see 8-8 being realistic.

Sorry, I must have misinterpreted the title of the thread - "Holmgren expects to compete." My bad.

We were 5-11 last year , our opponents strengthened themselves with offseason free agent signings including pissburgh who notoriously destains such signings , or even paying their own guys big contracts like they just gave Woodley .

Pissburgh is our opponent for only 2 out of 16 games. The Ravens will still be better than us even though they had to cut some aging vets. The Bengals without Palmer should be worse. The other 10 games look easier than last year's gauntlet which included New England, New Orleans, Atlanta, and Tampa Bay.

I expect the Browns to do better than 5-11 as they've added some talent but haven't lost anybody significant unless you're a big fan of Delhomme, St. Clair, Bell, Barton, Bowens, Roth, Wright, Rogers, Trusnik, Elam, etc. OK, they lost Vickers but he doesn't fit in this offense and they lost Hodges, but otherwise the personnel should be better, especially the DL. With decent health, especially on defense, I can see 8-8 being realistic.

SD:

8-8 would be a better record , but it wouldn't give us jack pitootie .